Bessemer woman who shot intruder said, "I protected me and mine."

BESSEMER, Alabama - A 63-year-old Bessemer woman who shot an intruder in her bedroom over the weekend said she had no problem pulling the trigger, and would do it again if necessary.

"I woke up with a man with a gun shoved in my face,'' the woman told Al.com and The Birmingham News today. "I have a family to protect and that's what I did. I protected me and mine."

The victim asked that her name not be used out of fear of retaliation since, "The M.F. didn't die."

The incident happened just before 4 a.m. Saturday on Fourth Avenue S.W. in Bessemer. The victim said she suffers from COPD, congestive heart failure and arthritis. Still, she sprang into action when she came face to face with her attacker.

"He demanded my money and my jewelry,'' she said. "I screamed that I had no money. I screamed that I had no jewelry." She tried several times to reach for her gun, but was unsuccessful. "Every time he pushed me on the floor, I got back up."

She said the 46-year-old suspect put down the gun, which later was found to be an air rifle, and pulled out a keyhole saw. He cut the victim on the arm and stomach.

"I was stabbed and cut,'' she said today.

A family friend of hers staying at the home heard her dogs - seven of them- barking and went to investigate. He was able to divert the attacker long enough for the victim to grab her Charter .44-caliber Bull Dog. "His eyes and mine met through the corner of my door,'' she said. "And then I was able to get my gun."

She fired at the intruder, who then fled out the back door. Asked if she only fired once, the woman replied, "That's all it took, once."

She said she learned the man got into her home through the back door. She said she has no clue why he picked her home. "He was higher than a Georgia pine on something,'' she said. "He would have to be to walk into a home with seven barking dogs."

The woman said she has owned guns for at least 30 years, and grew up hunting with her brother. She said she doesn't practice shooting, because she doesn't have to. "Women are better with guns,'' she said.

Authorities say the suspect was later found when he showed up at UAB West hospital with a gunshot wound. He has since been transferred to UAB Hospital for what authorities described as life-threatening injuries.

The victim said she saw him being wheeled out of UAB West, where she was also treated for her injuries. "That's how I identified him,'' she said.

She said she is still shaken from the ordeal.

"I am not completely recovered,'' she said, "but I'm hanging in there like a hair on a biscuit."